Written Answers Wednesday 7 February 2007

Scottish Executive

Adoption

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of reports that the UK Government will implement legislation requiring Roman Catholic adoption agencies to handle applications from same-sex couples, whether it will implement the terms of the equalities legislation or raise the issue with the UK Government so that matters involving religious conscience will be taken into account.

Robert Brown: The Prime Minister’s announcement of 29 January 2007 indicated an intention by the UK Government to bring forward regulations on discrimination in provision of goods and services under powers in section 81 of the Equality Act 2006, which would be applied in the case of existing adoption agencies from the end of 2008. These powers relate to a matter reserved under the Scotland Act 1998 and enable such regulations to apply in England, Scotland and Wales. As the Prime Minister’s announcement made clear, he took account of representations made personally to him by the First Minister on the issue. During the transitional period up to the end of 2008 the Scottish Executive will continue to keep in close contact with the agencies concerned, the Catholic Church and the UK Government to seek to ensure that the agencies’ valuable work continues.

Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what its interpretation is of the meaning of the term "reasonable grounds" in section 48(1) of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995.

Cathy Jamieson: The act itself provides no definition of the term "reasonable grounds". The Executive has not issued any guidance on the term. Ultimately it is for the courts to determine what grounds are reasonable.

Culture

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps were taken to interact and communicate with Scottish communities and societies abroad in respect of Burns Night.

Mr Tom McCabe: Scotland-Now , www.scotland-now.com, the e-magazine which is specifically aimed at those with an affinity for Scotland who live overseas, showcases modern Scotland as a great place to live, work, visit, study and invest.

  The special Burns edition of Scotland-Now was issued on 23 January 2007. An e-card promoting both Burns Night and Scotland-Now was also sent to contacts overseas. This edition carried a variety of features on Robert Burns, and included a guide on how to host a Burns Supper. We also highlighted a range of Burns events being held by Scottish groups and societies internationally, as well as events taking place throughout Scotland. Details of most of these events were provided by the Scottish communities and societies abroad themselves.

  Officials from the Scottish Affairs Office in Washington DC also attended Burns Suppers in New York, Boston and Washington.

Defence

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-30903 by Mr Andy Kerr on 22 January 2007, what recent information was given to the partnership board by the Ministry of Defence (MOD Defence Medical Services) anent the number of discharged Scottish servicemen and servicewomen who have been (a) directed to Scottish NHS hospitals for the treatment of physical injuries and therapeutic care and (b) referred for psychiatric treatment and care to Scottish NHS hospitals in each of the last seven years.

Mr Andy Kerr: None. The statistical information requested is not held centrally.

Defence

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether Scottish NHS hospitals and psychiatric clinics have the right to seek financial contributions from the Ministry of Defence (MOD Defence Medical Services) in order to help meet the cost of the medical treatment of discharged Scottish servicemen and servicewomen.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Transfer of Functions (Ministry of Pensions) Order 1953 passed the financial and administrative responsibility for the provision of medical and surgical services for war pensioners to Health Departments. In Scotland funding was transferred to NHS boards. Travel and subsistence costs remain the responsibility of the Veterans Agency.

Dentistry

Richard Lochhead (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients in each parliamentary constituency were registered with an NHS dentist in each of the last five years, also showing year-on-year percentage changes and national totals, and expressed as a percentage of all dental patients.

Lewis Macdonald: The information requested is not available by parliamentary constituency.

Education

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-31300 by Robert Brown on 1 February 2007, whether it will consider setting up a fund to support local authorities in providing increased teaching of English as an additional language.

Robert Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-31301 on 1 February 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search . It is for local authorities to use their funding to meet the needs of young people in their area including those for whom English is an additional language.

Fertility Treatment

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-30880 by Lewis Macdonald on 24 January 2007, whether it has taken proactive steps to arrange such a meeting and whether it has made contact with Infertility Network UK, to agree a date and venue.

Lewis Macdonald: My officials have recently spoken with Infertility Network UK, however, they have not, at this time, arranged a further meeting. As soon as the report on the review has been agreed my officials will seek a further meeting with INUK to discuss next steps.

Fertility Treatment

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-30877 by Lewis Macdonald on 24 January 2007, whether the reference to "shortly" means that the report of the Review of Access Criteria for Infertility Services will be published before dissolution.

Lewis Macdonald: Yes.

Fisheries

Mr John Swinney (North Tayside) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what professional qualifications are held by staff employed by Fisheries Research Services at Freshwater Laboratory Faskally.

Sarah Boyack: All staff at Freshwater Laboratory Faskally hold the qualifications required by the Scottish Executive Pay and Grading Benchmark Guidance. This information is given in pages 1 and 2 of the SE Pay and Grading Benchmark Guidance , a copy of which has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 41684). Any additional specialist experience or formal qualifications necessary for individual posts is stated in recruitment advertisements and will be held by the staff member in post.

Gambling

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider creating a public health strategy to address gambling addiction.

Lewis Macdonald: The Executive has no plans to create a public health strategy in respect of gambling addiction.

Legal Aid

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated legal aid bill is of the agents and counsel of William Smith for the proceedings in his case against K D Scott, Electoral Registration Officer.

Cathy Jamieson: Mr Smith originally raised his case against the Electoral Registration Officer in the Sheriff Court. Although his application for civil legal aid in this case was ultimately rejected, a fee of £809.58 was paid to his legal representatives under special urgency procedures.

  The most recent appeal is to the Court of Session, sitting as the Registration Appeal Court. Civil legal aid for this appeal was granted in August 2004 and £2,686.29 has been paid to date.

  Final accounts have yet to be submitted in this case. Therefore, the final legal aid bill is not yet known. However, solicitors are asked to estimate the final cost of a case before legal aid is granted. Mr Smith’s representatives have estimated the final cost to be in excess of £5,000.

Livestock

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-30374 by Ross Finnie on 15 December 2006, why, given that it was received by its Environment and Rural Affairs Department shortly after 21 November 2002, the European Commission Agriculture Directorate General’s Guidance Note 6 on the application of article 36(1) was not included in the guidance issued in the Suckler Cow Premium Scheme 2003 pack in July 2003.

Ross Finnie: It is not customary for my officials to include guidance notes from the European Commission in scheme information packs sent to farmers/crofters. Instead, they ensure that they reflect the guidance, in such notes, in the notes for guidance (NFG) issued to farmers/crofters on the schemes concerned. Under the Suckler Cow Premium Scheme (SCPS) 2003, the need to include a minimum of 5% heifers on claims of 14 animals or more was set out in the NFG on page 2 under "Main Changes" and in section 2.4 under "Heifer/cow limits". Additionally, the need to replace heifers when the heifer/cow ration fell below 5% was set out in the NFG in section 4.2.3 under "Heifers calving" and in the first paragraph of section 4.3 under "Replacement and notification of animals".

Livestock

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost is of changes to the rules for transporting animals.

Ross Finnie: Costs of complying with the new provisions in EC Regulation 1/2005 on the transportation of animals are estimated to be:

  A one-off fee of £40 for a driver competency test for drivers driving animals over 65km and up to eight hours or £100 for drivers driving animals over eight hours.

  The inspection costs for vehicles used on journeys of over eight hours will be between £50 and £150. The approval certificate will last five years. There is no inspection of vehicles used on shorter journeys.

  Alterations to the ramp angles to some existing vehicles will be in the region of about £100 (for the smallest vehicles and trailers) to £10,000 for large multi-deck vehicles. This requirement will be phased in over five years.

  Some existing vehicles used for journeys over 12 hours may require mechanical ventilation, temperature monitoring and warning equipment and satellite navigation systems to be installed. The cost of this could range from £1,750 to £12,250 where it is necessary.

Local Government Finance

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the grant aided expenditure allocation for education was to (a) Angus and (b) Aberdeenshire councils in each year since 1999, also expressed as an amount per pupil.

Mr Tom McCabe: The information requested is shown in the following table.

  

 
 Aberdeenshire Council
 Angus Council


Grant Aided Expenditure Allocation
(£ Million)
Per Pupil
(£)
Grant Aided Expenditure Allocation
(£ Million)
Per Pupil
(£)


 1999-2000
 122.718
 2,977
 55.505
 3,032


 2000-01
 126.163
 3,060
 57.813
 3,158


 2001-02
 138.542
 3,361
 63.257
 3,456


 2002-03
 152.776
 3,706
 70.283
 3,840


 2003-04
 167.339
 4,059
 76.883
 4,200


 2004-05
 181.837
 4,411
 82.056
 4,483


 2005-06
 191.636
 4,649
 86.679
 4,736


 2006-07
 202.410
 4,910
 89.124
 4,869



  Notes:

  1. The allocations given above are neither budgets nor spending targets for the education service. They are simply a component used in distributing the total block grant that the Executive provides to local authorities. It is for local authorities to decide how best to allocate the resulting overall block grant across all their services, based on local needs and priorities.

  2. Grant Aided Expenditure (GAE) figures are from the GAE Green Books for 1999-2000 to 2006-07. Pupil numbers (including pre-school, primary and secondary pupils) are as provided by local authorities and used in the 2005-06 GAE Green Book which formed the base year calculation for Spending Review 2004.

  3. The GAE allocations provided are derived by aggregating over 23 sub-categories.

Local Government Finance

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the grant aided expenditure allocation for pre-school education was to (a) Angus and (b) Aberdeenshire councils in each year since 1999, also expressed as an amount per pupil.

Mr Tom McCabe: The information requested is shown in the following table.

  

 
Aberdeenshire Council
Angus Council


Grant Aided Expenditure Allocation
(£ Million)
Per Pupil
(£ Million)
Grant Aided Expenditure Allocation
(£ Million)
Per Pupil
(£ Million)


1999-2000
-
-
-
-


2000-01
-
-
-
-


2001-02
-
-
-
-


2002-03
7.203
175
3.182
174


2003-04
7.258
176
3.206
175


2004-05
7.644
185
3.313
181


2005-06
7.907
192
3.386
185


2006-07
8.952
217
3.415
187



  Notes:

  1. The allocations given above are neither budgets nor spending targets. They are simply a component used in distributing the total block grant that the Executive provides to local authorities. It is for local authorities to decide how best to allocate the resulting overall block grant across all their services, based on local needs and priorities.

  2. Grant Aided Expenditure (GAE) figures are from the GAE Green Books for 1999-2000 to 2006-07. Pupil numbers are as provided by local authorities and used in the 2005-06 GAE Green Book which formed the base year calculation for Spending Review 2004.

  3. Pre-School Education became a separate category in the GAE process from 2002-03. Prior to that, local authorities received specific grant.

Local Government Finance

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cultural and related services grant aided expenditure and net revenue expenditure was for (a) Angus and (b) Aberdeenshire councils in each year since 2003.

Mr Tom McCabe: The information requested is shown in the following table.

  

 
 Aberdeenshire Council
 Angus Council


Grant Aided Expenditure Allocation
(£ Million)
Revenue Expenditure
(£ Million)
Grant Aided Expenditure Allocation
(£ Million)
Revenue Expenditure
(£ Million)


 2003-04
 14.077
 14.577
 7.474
 10.492


 2004-05
 14.757
 16.191
 7.673
 11.199


 2005-06
 15.344
 17.067
 7.977
 9.628


 2006-07
 15.645
 -
 7.934
 -



  Notes:

  1. Revenue spending may differ from the allocation amounts for a number of reasons. First, the allocations given above are neither budgets nor spending targets for culture and related services. They are simply a component used in distributing the total block grant that the Executive provides to local authorities. Second, it is for each local authority to decide how best to allocate the resulting overall block grant across all its services, based on local needs and priorities.

  2. Sources for Grant Aided Expenditure (GAE) are the GAE Green Books for 2003-04 to 2006-07. The GAE allocations provided are derived by aggregating over six sub-categories which together make up the cultural and related services GAE line: parks and open spaces; sports facilities and swimming pools; tourism; remainder of leisure and recreation; libraries, and museums and art galleries.

  3. Revenue expenditure is sourced from Local Financial Return (LFR) 2, completed by local authorities, which covers culture and related services. Expenditure figures for 2006-07 are not yet available.

NHS Waiting Times

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of people were removed from an NHS waiting list in each year since 1997, broken down by NHS board.

Mr Andy Kerr: The information requested is not available centrally.

  Information on in-patient/day case and out-patient waiting lists is collected via monthly censuses and published quarterly by ISD Scotland. Between census dates, thousands of patients are added to or removed from NHS boards’ waiting lists. There are many reasons for the removal of patients from lists, including for example, those seen at an out-patient clinic or admitted to hospital for treatment, those whose condition has improved and no longer require treatment, and those who move address outwith the NHS board area.

Nursing

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take in respect of the Audit Scotland report, Planning ward nursing - legacy or design? .

Mr Andy Kerr: In their follow up audit of Planning ward nursing – legacy or design? , Audit Scotland has acknowledged that significant progress has been made by the Executive and NHS boards in implementing their baseline report. This includes improvements to the information on the nursing workforce and workload, the development of a robust, standardised, national approach to workforce and workload planning. We continue to work with NHS boards, trade unions and professional bodies to ensure full implementation of all recommendations through a range of specific work streams, including the nursing and midwifery workforce and workload planning project which is scheduled to move into its final phase in April 2007.

Nursing

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to ensure that core nursing staff levels are sufficient to meet demand and to cover for holiday, sickness, maternity leave, study leave and protected time for senior nursing staff with team leadership responsibilities, in light of the increase in use of bank nurses highlighted in the Audit Scotland report, Planning ward nursing - legacy or design? .

Mr Andy Kerr: NHS boards have already made progress in achieving recommended predicted absence levels and protected time for clinical leaders since the publication of Audit Scotland’s follow up report. On-going progress will be monitored through the workload and workforce planning programme until full implementation of the recommendations is reached.

Nursing

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has assessed how much NHS bank nursing is undertaken by nurses already employed on permanent contracts by the NHS.

Mr Andy Kerr: This information is not held centrally.

Nursing

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the impact on continuity of care of the increased use of bank nurses.

Mr Andy Kerr: NHS boards are responsible for the provision of services to meet local needs. When nurses are off sick, or on unexpected leave, it is important to ensure that patient care comes first and that the rest of the team are not subject to further workload and pressure.

Nursing

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to the use of overtime rather than bank nurses to cover temporary staff shortages, in order to maintain continuity of care and more easily monitor compliance with working time regulations.

Mr Andy Kerr: NHS boards are responsible for ensuring that they have the appropriate team with the right skill mix and competencies to meet patient need and maintain continuity of care. NHS boards take these decisions based on family friendly policies, the working time regulations and other issues that govern employment matters.

Police

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many officers in each police force are specifically trained for emergency water rescue situations.

Cathy Jamieson: This information is not held centrally and is an operational matter for individual chief constables.

Police

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what police custody protocols are in place in respect of religion and belief.

Cathy Jamieson: All forces have custody and care of prisoners policies which contain specific information on issues such as religious food laws, traditions, beliefs and worship.

Police

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it issues in respect of the practice of religion and belief by those in police custody and what the status is of such guidance.

Cathy Jamieson: Guidelines regarding religion and faith awareness are a matter for individual forces.

Police

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how it monitors the implementation of police custody protocols in respect of religion and belief.

Cathy Jamieson: Forces monitor adherence to their custody policies through internal supervisory structures. Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary also regularly examines the care and custody of detainees, notes good practice and makes recommendations to improve prisoner care.

  External scrutiny is also provided by independent custody visitors (ICV) schemes. These visits are carried out regularly and without notice. ICVs are aware of the expected requirements laid out in force policies and speak to detainees during visits to confirm that their needs are being met.

Police

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what denominations are covered by police custody protocols in respect of religion and belief.

Cathy Jamieson: The main religions covered by police custody policies are Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism.

Police

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many complaints it has received in respect of breaches of police custody protocols in each year since 1999.

Cathy Jamieson: The requested information is not held centrally.

Police

Ms Maureen Watt (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many traffic police officers have been employed by each police force in each of the last five years, showing year-on-year percentage changes and expressed also per head of population.

Cathy Jamieson: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-30250 on 11 December 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Pre-School Education

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many three and four-year-olds received free nursery places in (a) 2003, (b) 2004, (c) 2005 and (d) 2006.

Robert Brown: Information on the number of registrations for pre-school education is provided in the following table.

  

 
 3 -Year-Olds
 4-Year-Olds


 2003
 45,046
 55,608


 2004
 44,459
 54,355


 2005
 41,392
 50,909


 2006
 41,671
 51,371



  Please note that children are counted once for every pre-school they attend, so these figures may contain some double counting. In addition, in 2006 "pre-school education" was defined as "in partnership with the local authority" which was not the case in previous years, so figures are not directly comparable.

  Figures on the number of children registered for pre-school education are published each year in the pre-school and childcare statistics. The figures are based on a census taken in January of each year. The latest statistics were published in the Pre-School and Childcare Statistics 2006 a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 40411).

Pre-School Education

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the net revenue expenditure for pre-primary education was in the (a) Angus and (b) Aberdeenshire local authority areas in each year since 2003.

Robert Brown: The net revenue expenditure for pre-primary education since 2003 is enclosed in the following table:

  Pre-Primary Education - Net Revenue Expenditure

  

 
 2003-04
 2004-05
 2005-06


 Aberdeenshire
£8.50 million
£9.12 million
£9.62 million


 Angus
£3.68 million
£4.39 million
£4.60 million



  Source: LFR 1 (Education) returns.

  Finalised data for the financial year 2006-07 is not yet available.

Scottish Executive Finance

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what advice it has received from the Auditor General for Scotland in respect of the limits on liabilities for which no budget provision is made before special remedial action should be taken.

Mr Tom McCabe: We are not aware of any specific advice received from the Auditor General for Scotland in respect of the limit on liabilities for which no budget provision is made before special remedial action should be taken. Per the Scottish Public Finance Manual, if a liability matures the relevant business area should consider, in consultation with its departmental Finance Team, whether an immediate report should be made to the Parliament.

Scottish Executive Finance

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what contingent liabilities have been recorded in the accounts of the Executive, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies in each of the last five years and what triggers led to the removal of any portion of a contingent liability.

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what proposals from (a) auditors, (b) contractors, (c) sub-contractors, (d) ministers or (e) officials for inclusion of a contingent liability in the accounts of the Executive, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies were not included in published accounts in each of the last five years.

Mr Tom McCabe: All contingent liabilities recorded in the accounts of the Executive and its agencies in each of the last five years can be found in the notes to the consolidated accounts which are available on the Scottish Executive website http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/Recent . The contingent liabilities recorded by the Executive’s non-departmental public bodies in each of the last five years will be found in the notes to their individual annual accounts which can be accessed at their websites. A contingent liability will be removed from the accounts if the circumstances which led to its original inclusion change and it no longer fits the criteria of a contingent liability.

  For the Executive and its agencies, finance teams maintain a record of all contingent liabilities throughout the year. Preparers of accounts will also consider any other information at the year-end and all items which meet the criteria of a contingent liability as outlined in the Scottish Public Finance Manual and the Government Financial Reporting Manual are disclosed in the annual accounts. This information is audited for compliance and completeness by Audit Scotland on behalf of the Auditor General. Decisions made by non-departmental public bodies are a matter for those bodies. The information requested is not held centrally.

Scottish Executive Finance

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what it considers to be a prudent limit on contingent liabilities before it should report to the Parliament on the matter.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Scottish ministers report to Parliament on such matters in accordance with the Budgeting Process Agreement agreed between the Executive and the Parliament:  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/committees/finance/Written%20Agreement%20between%20FC%20and%20Exec%20at%2022.6.05.pdf

  The Scottish ministers must present their proposals to the Finance Committee before granting any guarantees or indemnities in excess of £1 million (including those without limit). The Finance Committee will consider the proposal within 20 days and will either approve the proposal or propose an amendment. The Scottish ministers will either accept the amendment or notify the committee that they disagree and it will then be for the committee to decide to either allow the Scottish ministers to proceed or to refer the matter to the Parliamentary Bureau for a debate.

  The Scottish Public Finance and Accountability Manual (SPFM) sets out additional guidance on reporting contingent liabilities to Parliament. Per the SPFM contingent liabilities which arise in the normal course of business are not covered by the need for prior parliamentary approval unless expenditure at a later date may be of such a nature or size that the Parliament should be given notice. Consideration of whether to give notice will be on a case-by-case basis and depend on the circumstances of individual cases. Similarly, if a liability matures in respect of a previously contingent liability, ministers will consider whether to make a report to the Parliament.

Tourism

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it took to use Burns Night to promote Scotland abroad.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executive promotes internationally key dates in Scotland’s calendar. Burns Night 2007 was marked by a number of activities that included a direct mailing to international journalists, Global Friends and Global Scots and others through FCO posts. A special edition of the quarterly e-zine Scotland-Now was mailed out and recipients were encouraged to post information on Burns Night events across the world. The First Secretary, Scottish Affairs office in Washington hosted a Burns supper in New York to promote Scotland to local media contacts. Promotional items were sent to support a number of Burns events across the world.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Microsoft Government Leaders Forum

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the total cost to it will be of the Microsoft Government Leaders Forum (GLF) Europe, broken down by item, and to what extent, and from which organisations, these costs will be recovered.

George Reid: All the main costs associated with the 2007 Microsoft Government Leaders Forum (GLF) such as accommodation, broadcasting, catering, security, transport etc are being met by Microsoft. This is expected to be in the region of £100,000. Final accounts are still being prepared. As a partner the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body contributed staff time and experience in helping to organise the event and established a number of internal and external working groups for the planning and organisation of the event. The costs associated with facilitating these working groups are in the region of £175. In addition, the SPCB provided promotional materials about the Parliament which were distributed to all delegates at the GLF at a cost of about £2,500 and contributed about £1,700 towards the costs of ushering. The SPCB along with Microsoft and the Scottish Executive will meet estimated costs of £6,000 between them for the youth programme at the GLF. The final accounts are still being prepared by Young Scot. The estimated total cost to the SPCB excluding staff time is in the region of £7,000.00.

Microsoft Government Leaders Forum

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether any special measures in respect of the Parliament’s environment, other than any taken for the Microsoft Government Leaders Forum, were taken for the visit of His Royal Highness the Duke of York on 30 January 2007.

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether any special measures in respect of the Parliament’s environment were taken for the Microsoft Government Leaders Forum.

Kenny MacAskill: In the run up to and during the Microsoft Government Leaders Forum, no special measures were required to maintain comfort levels. Standard building procedures were followed, which include closely monitoring building temperatures, switching equipment off when not in use, adjusting room and air handling unit settings and utilising natural ventilation. No additional measures were taken for the visit of His Royal Highness The Duke of York.

Parliamentary Accommodation

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether the temperature in the Parliament building reached higher than normal levels on 30 January 2007 and, if so, what the reasons were for the increase.

Kenny MacAskill: Building temperatures were monitored closely on 30 January and did not reach higher than normal levels.